One-pot reactions of cadmium(II) perchlorate/nitrate, Schiff bases (pbap/pfap) and pseudohalides (sodium
azide/ammonium thiocyanate) in a 2:1:4 molar ratio in MeOH–MeCN solvent mixtures at room temperature result in a dinuclear compound [Cd
2(pbap)(OH
2)
2(N
3)
4] (
1) [pbap =
N-(1-pyridin-2-ylbenzylidene)-
N-[2-(4-{2-[(1-pyridin-2-ylbenzylidene)amino]ethyl}piperazin-1-yl)ethyl]amine] and a polymeric compound [Cd
2(pfap)(μ
1,3-NCS)(μ
1,3-SCN)(NCS)
2]
n (
2) [pfap =
N-(1-pyridin-2-yl
formylidene)-
N-[2-(4-{2-[(1-pyridin-2yl
formylidene)amino]ethyl}piperazin-1-yl)ethyl]-amine]. X-ray crystal structural analyses reveal a bis(tridentate) congregation behaviour of the hexadentate blocker (pbap/pfap) encapsulating two metal centers. Each cadmium(II) center in
1 and
2 is in a distorted octahedral geometry with CdN
5O and CdN
5S chromophores, respectively. In
1, the dinuclear units participate in intermolecular O–H
N hydrogen bonding between bound water O atoms and terminal
azide N atoms, in combination with C–H
π interactions, resulting in a 3D supramolecular network with an intramolecular Cd
Cd distance of 6.473(2) Å. In the crystal lattice, the covalent 1D chain of
2 is further engaged in face-to-face π
π interactions from two terminal pyridine rings, which stabilizes the chain with an intradimer Cd
Cd separation of 6.640(5) Å. Both the complexes display intraligand
1(π–π
*) fluorescence and intraligand
3(π–π
*) phosphorescence in glassy solutions.